Dr. Link Check vs Xenu's Link Sleuth (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Dr. Link Check if

• Fits if you want broken links found and emailed to you on a schedule
• Works for checking outbound links against malware and phishing lists

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if your site builds links with JavaScript, which the crawler doesn't run
• Tight if you stay free, at 1,500 links on 2 sites, run by hand with no export
• Watch out: CSV or PDF export and soft-error checks start on Professional at $49, as do login checks, set up on request
• Pricey if your site has lots of resources, as prices rise per 10,000 links and every unique file counts
• Tight if you check several sites, as only one check runs at a time per account

Pick Xenu's Link Sleuth if

• Fits if you're on Windows and want a broken link list without signing up for anything
• Works for checking HTML files on your own disk or an intranet before they go live

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you use a Mac or Linux, as it's Windows only and the author won't port it
• Watch out: the current release, 1.3.8, dates from September 2010, with only a beta build offered beside it
• Not for you if your site builds its links with JavaScript, as those pages show no outgoing links
• Too light for an SEO audit, as there are no on-page, speed or structured data checks
• Tight if pages sit behind a login form, which needs a separate test build, or you need robots.txt respected, which isn't planned

Dr. Link Check

• The crawler does not run JavaScript, so links created by scripts are missed unless you start from the XML sitemap.
• Prices rise with the link limit, billed per 10,000 links; each website counts unique resources, not just pages.
• Export to CSV or PDF and soft error checks start at Professional; checking behind a login is set up by request on Professional and up.
• Only one check runs at a time per account, and payment is by card or PayPal only.

Xenu's Link Sleuth

• It runs only on Windows; the author will not make Mac or Linux versions, though users report it working under Wine.
• The last full release, 1.3.8, is from September 2010, and robots.txt support is not on the author's plans.
• Pages built only with JavaScript show no outgoing links, and logging in through a web form needs a separate test build.
• It checks links only: there are no on-page SEO, speed or structured data checks.

Dr. Link Check

Whole-site link crawl

Starts from one URL and checks internal links, outbound links, images, style sheets and other resources found in the HTML and CSS.

Several checks per link

Looks at URL format, server response time, error codes such as 404 and 500, and, on paid plans, SSL certificate validity.

Malware and phishing blacklists

Paid plans check outbound links against Google Safe Browsing, Professional adds PhishTank, and Premium two more lists.

Soft error detection

From Professional, flags pages that answer 200 OK but whose content shows an error or placeholder message.

Scheduled checks and reports

Runs checks monthly, biweekly, weekly or daily depending on plan, and emails a status report to chosen recipients.

URL lists and rules

Accepts up to 10,000 URLs to check in bulk, and lets you include or exclude URLs and limit crawl speed.

Xenu's Link Sleuth

Broken link checking

Checks ordinary links, images, frames, plug-ins, backgrounds, image maps, style sheets, scripts and Java applets, and can re-check the broken ones.

Redirect detection

Reports URLs that redirect, alongside the broken ones, in a list that can be sorted by different columns while the crawl runs.

Reports and site map

Produces a report at any point in a crawl, which can also be sent by email, plus a site map of the pages it found.

Local and intranet checks

Checks HTML files on your own disk or an intranet before they are uploaded, without needing a local web server.

Orphan file search

Looks for files on the server that no page links to; the passwords entered for this are not kept after the program closes.

Configurable crawl speed

Fetches pages in parallel with 30 threads by default, adjustable from 1 to 100; the author says crawls have passed a million URLs.

Dr. Link Check

• Lite$0

  2 websites and 1,500 links each, broken link checks only, run one at a time by hand.

• Standard$13

  per month for 10,000 links, billed monthly

  5 websites, Google Safe Browsing blacklist checks, SSL checks, include and exclude rules, and monthly or biweekly scheduled checks.

• Professional$49

  per month for 50,000 links, billed monthly

  10 websites, soft error checks, PhishTank, weekly checks and CSV or PDF export. Can be set from 20,000 links; the price follows the limit.

• Premium$159

  per month for 200,000 links, billed monthly

  15 websites, two more blacklists and daily checks. Can be set from 30,000 links; the price follows the limit.

Xenu's Link Sleuth

• Free$0

  The full link checker for Windows, with no paid edition. A 64-bit beta build is offered for very large sites.

Dr. Link Check

• Annual discount

  One month free with yearly billing

  Dr. Link Check's pricing page offers yearly billing with one month free compared with paying monthly.

Xenu's Link Sleuth

No public discounts listed.